The Russians are tired of growing potatoes: “It turns out more expensive than in the store”

– How tired I am of these country May trips “for potatoes”! But my parents force them, they have a Soviet hardening, they just fall into a smaller part of your statistics, 28-year-old Evgenia Kuznetsova, a teacher at the Faculty of Biology of the Moscow Institute, complains. – And after all, for five years at least we have been selling seeds that are not our own, Russian, but genetically modified. As a biologist, I know very well the value of such products. Moreover, during the pandemic, they generally rose in price, so growing any vegetables is now too expensive, even taking into account the soaring prices in stores and markets. And the quality of the crop is terrible, even caterpillars and Colorado beetles do not eat it, they disdain a fake.

A fourth-year student, Inna Mikhailova, says that she swore to her grandparents, noble summer residents, that after graduation she would plant potatoes, pickled cucumbers and other onions on their six rural acres. And now, they say, it’s not up to that: a session is on the nose, then a diploma – you need to gain knowledge, and not engage in gardening.

– I’m lying to them, of course, which potato, which onion? I do a manicure twice a month, my pens are not for agricultural production. But it seems that when I promised, the ancestors calmed down and even became proud of me. Some of my classmates from the “budget”, especially girls, from school help the older generation grow potatoes, and they already have hands like pensioners. No man will look at these.

However, some summer residents, even of the older generation, who returned to gardening in 2020-2022 after a long break, do not really plan to do it this year.

“For the past two years I have been gardening, as in the nineties: I planted potatoes, beets, zucchini for the winter,” says 47-year-old Marina, the owner of a summer house in the Dmitrovsky district. – This is not my kind of leisure, but I was really afraid that the food would disappear, that hunger would begin.

This year, the MK interlocutor says, she does not feel such a threat, because, despite the alarming atmosphere in past years, it did not materialize. “There should be enough money for potatoes,” Marina laughs.

But these are Moscow summer residents. And in the regions, horticulture does not seem to be on the decline. “The seed potatoes are almost all sold out,” says a seed seller from the Rostov district of the Yaroslavl region. “They plant more just in case. Last year I know that they began to focus on garlic – maybe not only for themselves, but also for sale” .

Ready-made tomato seedlings are also in unexpected demand: they are bought by Muscovites who have “distant dachas” so as not to take dozens of pots with them, according to the old-fashioned method.

The “greenhouse boom” has been going on for the third year: the townspeople, settling in village houses, install new polycarbonate greenhouses next to them. And, mindful of the snowy winters of recent years, – reinforced construction.

“Look at the prices for fresh tomatoes, especially good ones, those that smell, and you will understand: the greenhouse pays off,” says Natalia, a Muscovite, the mistress of a house in the Borisoglebsky district. – Without a greenhouse, tomatoes become a luxury. Let there be fresh ones only in season, but I also salt them for the whole winter. If prepared properly, there is enough branded salted tomatoes until Easter.

Potatoes in such farmsteads, as a rule, are also grown. “This is almost the most unpretentious vegetable, it’s enough to dig up a plot with a walk-behind tractor in the spring, plant it, then spud and harvest it,” says the interlocutor of MK. “It’s just growing. We’ll lay four acres this year, last year there were three, ten bags were collected from them. We still eat.”

It makes sense to grow a full “line” of garden vegetables for yourself if you live in the country all season and love these works, Natalia believes. But you can go further – make the garden a source of income. Such a business is developed in the Rostov region – from time immemorial, onions and other crops have been grown there, supplying them to large Russian cities.

– Visiting Muscovites are happy to buy vegetables from us, and for a lot of money, – the “entrepreneurs” boast. – For a kilogram of potatoes, we ask 30 rubles, so they don’t even bargain, they take bags!

Unfortunately, residents of the “garden capital” of the Rostov region, the village of Porechye, admit that they have not grown old varieties of potatoes and onions for many years – the seeds may have been preserved only in collections. So you have to be content with modern, mostly purchased, and their quality often leaves much to be desired.